The S&P/Case-Shiller national index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% in the three-month period ending in January, and was up 6.2% compared to a year before. The 20-city index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8% for the month, and 6.4% for the year.

It's a seller's market, for sure, with tight housing markets across the country and home values that have risen 7.6% in the last year alone, according to Zillow. But if you're thinking of cashing in your chips and recouping some of the value you've gained in your homestead by selling it, you should know that selling a house can cost more than $18,000.

What is a seller's market? Simply put, it's a market where there are more home buyers than sellers. Based on basic laws of supply and demand, this means sellers have the upper hand: They will likely sell their place quickly, perhaps for over asking price, with a minimum of fuss or pushback from buyers.

First, some good news. Despite the meteoric rise in home prices, the real estate market hasn't ventured into housing bubble territory. The bad news? Home prices are still going to decline, and mortgage defaults are likely to rise. It's simply the nature of a cyclical market. (Subscription may be required.)

The Trump administration is attempting to scale back federal efforts to enforce fair housing laws, freezing enforcement actions against local governments and businesses, including Facebook, while sidelining officials who have aggressively pursued civil rights cases.

California is bracing for a high-profile fight over the state's housing crisis. It's a clash that pits Silicon Valley technology executives, who want to cut regulations that make it hard to build multi-story apartment buildings, against existing home owners and affordable housing advocates.

Fair housing groups filed a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday saying that Facebook continues to discriminate against certain groups, including women, disabled veterans and single mothers, in the way that it allows advertisers to target the audience for their ads. The suit comes as the social network is scrambling to deal with an international crisis over the misuse of data belonging to 50 million of its users.

In passing a $1.3-trillion spending package, Congress didn't just avert a government shutdown. It also provided a boost to affordable housing developers who say their projects have been delayed — even killed — by recent tax law changes.

Anyone hoping that the Federal Housing Finance Agency will suddenly accelerate the introduction of a new credit score model was likely disappointed by the release of a report Thursday. (Subscription may be required.)

We're likely not going back to the bad old days of the bubble As interest rates rise, fewer households refinance their mortgages. And the refinances that do get done are often very different than those initiated during low-rate periods.

The S&P/Case-Shiller national index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% in the three-month period ending in January, and was up 6.2% compared to a year before. The 20-city index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8% for the month, and 6.4% for the year.

It's a seller's market, for sure, with tight housing markets across the country and home values that have risen 7.6% in the last year alone, according to Zillow. But if you're thinking of cashing in your chips and recouping some of the value you've gained in your homestead by selling it, you should know that selling a house can cost more than $18,000.

What is a seller's market? Simply put, it's a market where there are more home buyers than sellers. Based on basic laws of supply and demand, this means sellers have the upper hand: They will likely sell their place quickly, perhaps for over asking price, with a minimum of fuss or pushback from buyers.

First, some good news. Despite the meteoric rise in home prices, the real estate market hasn't ventured into housing bubble territory. The bad news? Home prices are still going to decline, and mortgage defaults are likely to rise. It's simply the nature of a cyclical market. (Subscription may be required.)

The Trump administration is attempting to scale back federal efforts to enforce fair housing laws, freezing enforcement actions against local governments and businesses, including Facebook, while sidelining officials who have aggressively pursued civil rights cases.

California is bracing for a high-profile fight over the state's housing crisis. It's a clash that pits Silicon Valley technology executives, who want to cut regulations that make it hard to build multi-story apartment buildings, against existing home owners and affordable housing advocates.

Fair housing groups filed a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday saying that Facebook continues to discriminate against certain groups, including women, disabled veterans and single mothers, in the way that it allows advertisers to target the audience for their ads. The suit comes as the social network is scrambling to deal with an international crisis over the misuse of data belonging to 50 million of its users.

In passing a $1.3-trillion spending package, Congress didn't just avert a government shutdown. It also provided a boost to affordable housing developers who say their projects have been delayed — even killed — by recent tax law changes.

Anyone hoping that the Federal Housing Finance Agency will suddenly accelerate the introduction of a new credit score model was likely disappointed by the release of a report Thursday. (Subscription may be required.)

We're likely not going back to the bad old days of the bubble As interest rates rise, fewer households refinance their mortgages. And the refinances that do get done are often very different than those initiated during low-rate periods.